At the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, India will look to complete a series victory over Afghanistan, and Virat Kohli will be back in the Indian T20I squad.
As India prepares to play Afghanistan in the second Twenty20 International at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, all eyes will be on Virat Kohli, who rejoins the Indian team for the T20I format after an extended absence of nearly 14 months. After taking a 1-0 lead with a six-wicket victory in Mohali, the Indian team, captained by Rohit Sharma, will try to complete a series victory.
Shivam Dube won Player of the Match in the opening Twenty20 International after putting up an outstanding all-around performance that was essential to India’s six-wicket victory over Afghanistan. Dube performed admirably at number four, handling the pressure and making a big contribution to the team’s victory despite the chilly weather.
Five of the six games played between India and Afghanistan have been won, with one ending in a tie. India has a strong record against Afghanistan. Their first match took place during the T20 World Cup in 2010. Kohli, who traveled from Mumbai to Indore for the Sunday match, adds strength to the Indian team as they get ready for their next encounter.
Even without star spinner Rashid Khan, the Indian squad is not taking the Afghans lightly. Afghanistan still has some excellent players, such as Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Mujeeb ur Rahman, who can win a match if they play well together.
Players like Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel have a chance to make an impression and maintain their chances of making the Indian T20 World Cup team. Performances in this series are especially important because there aren’t any more T20I series before the main event in June.
In the batsman-wicketkeeper hierarchy, Jitesh Sharma in particular has surpassed Ishan Kishan and will be hoping to establish himself with a big hit. Last year, in a three-match away series against the West Indies, Tilak Varma scored 39, 51, and 49 runs without conceding an over. It was a great start to his T20I career. But since then, Varma’s output has decreased.
Against a subpar Bangladesh in the Asian Games, the next 13 innings yielded just one more fifty, with three scores of 20 or more and one knock of 30 or more dictating the rest of the match. But with star batsman Virat Kohli playing in this match after missing the first, it’s unclear if Varma can maintain his spot in the lineup.
Because of the Indore pitch’s reputation for favouring batsmen, high-scoring innings may ensue. Axar Patel, an Indian spinner who was recently called back to the Test team, and other Afghan batsmen who can destroy any bowling attack, such as Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mohammad Nabi, will require skill on the part of the Indian spinners to contain them.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar.
The following players represent Afghanistan: Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ibrahim Zadran (captain), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem, Qais Ahmad, Gulbadin Naib, and Rashid Khan.
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